Oil-purifying apparatus for hydrocarbon engines



March 20, '1934. J. A. WATSON OIL PURIFYING APPARATUS FOR HYDROCARBOH ENGINES Filed Oct. 2, 1929 2 Sheets-Sheet l March 20, 1934. J WATSON 1,951,583

OIL PURIFYING APPARATUS FOR HYDROCARBON ENGINES Filed Oct. 2. 1929 2 Sheets-Sheet 2 Patented Mar, 20, 1934 A OIL-PURIFYING APPARATUS FOR HYDROCARBON ENGINES James A. Watson, Silver Spring, Md.; Mary 0.

Watson executrix of said James A.

deceased Watson,

Application October 2, 1929, Serial No. 396,785

3 Claims.

The present invention relates to oil purifying apparatus for the lubricating oil of hydrocarbon engines designed to continuously free the oil from diluents and solid matter while the engine is running. The invention comprises various improvements in the type of apparatus described in Let ters Patent No. 1,359,453 and 1,608,571 heretofore granted to me.

One object of the invention is to avoid the use of floats and valves in the vacuum tank or refining chamber of such apparatus. Another object is to withdraw the oil from the crank case or reservoir and feed it to the refining chamber in regulated quantities to avoid flooding the chamber and to expose the oil in the chamber for a sufiicient length of time to evaporate the diluents. Still another object is to expose the oil over a large surface within the chamber whereby the diluents are more readily evaporated, and to employ the surface of a filter for this purpose whereby the filter for removing solid impurities may serve to aid in removing liquid impurities. Other objects of the invention will be apparent from the following specification taken in connection with the drawings, in which:

Figure 1 is a vertical section through a vacuum or refining chamber about on the line 1-1 of Fig. 2;

Figure 2 is a horizontal section about on the line 2--2 of Fig. 1;

Figure 3 is a section on the line 3-3 of Fig. 1;

Figure 4 is a detail of a part shown in dotted lines in Fig. 1;

Figure 5 is a cross section through the combined motor and pump on the line 5-5 of Fig. 6;

Figure 6 is a longitudinal section through the pumps on the line 6-6 of Fig. 5; and

Figure 7 is a diagrammatic view of a hydrocarbon engine showing the oil refining apparatus applied.

Referring to Figure 7, the numeral 10 indicates a hydrocarbon engine of the type usually found in automobiles, 11 the intake manifold, 12 the exhaust manifold, 13 the carburetor, 14 the throttle valve, 15 the crank case or reservoir, and 16 the oil level in the reservoir. The. vacuum refining chamber A is shown attachedtothe exthrough pipe 21 with the intake manifold above thethrottle valve 14.

Referring to Figures 1 to 4, inclusive, the upper part of chamber A is shown as a casting or block 22 attached to the manifold by straps 23. The 0 cylindrical block 22 has an annular chamber 24 which receives oil from pipe 18 and discharges into the interior of chamber A through opening 25. The lower part 26 of chamber A may be of sheet metal and attached to block 22 in any suit- 05 able airtight manner. A removable top plate 27 is also secured to block 22 by an airtight joint.

Within chamber A and resting on an annular shoulder 28 is a metal disk 29. As shown the disk is clamped on the shoulder by a dome 30 by means of a screw 31 passing through top 27. Oil entering through inlet 25 passes through openings 32 in the dome to the upper surface of disk 29. From disk 29 is suspended a filter of any suitable material but having a relatively large surface to expose the oil in a thin film to the rarified atmosphere existing in the chamber and promote evaporation of volatile dilu'ents of the oil such as gasoline and Water, the vapor from which is sucked into the intake of the engine through pipe 18. As shown, the filter 33 consists in a closed rectangular fabric sack within the upper margin of which is a pipe 34 on'which the filter envelope hangs. The ends of the pipe 34 pass through and are secured to the disk 29 as indicated at 34 and 34*. Oil entering the ends of pipe 34 is discharged into the sack through a series of openings 35 in the under side of the pipe.

As shown, the pipe 34 is spiral, and a similar spiral rod 36 is confined in the lower edge of the filter sack to maintain the sack in a vertical position and preventcontact between its walls. The particular form of the pipe 34 is unimportant. One

or more filter sacks of any desired form may be suspended from the disk or support 29 and ar- 9 ranged to receive the oil entering the refining chamber. It is important, however, to provide one or more filter sacks which have in the aggregate a large wall surface with the outside of the wall or wallsseparated and exposed to the rarified at- 10 mosphere within the chamber whereby a large surface is provided from which the diluents of the oil may evaporate. In the type of refining device illustrated, the filter sack or sacks should therefore belong in a vertical direction as it is not practicable to use a very wide tank or chamber under the hood of an automobile. Furthermore, it is not desirable to use the maximum amount of filtering material which the chamber is capable of containing, as its outside walls would contact 11 0 and prevent evaporation of the diluents. It will be obvious that a cheap form of filter may be used and that it may be quickly cleaned or renewed by removing the cover plate 27.

As previously stated, a subatmospheric pressure is maintained constantly in the chamber A when the engine is running by connecting the chamber with the intake of the engine and thus gasoline vapor removed from the chamber is sucked into the intake and burned. To prevent any oil from being drawn into the engine, I pro- Vide a float 37, the upper end 38 of which serves as a valve to close the vapor inlet 39 of the tube 21 if oil should for any reason accumulate in the chamber A. The float may be suitably guidedas by the guide 40.

Referring to Figures 5 and 6, the pumps B and C are shown provided with pistons 42, 41, connected by a rack 43 which is reciprocated by a segmental gear 44 fast on a rock shaft 45. Each pump is provided with an inlet valve 46 and an outlet valve 4'7. Valve 4'7 leading to conduit 18 should be heavy or provided with a spring 47 to overcome the suction of the vacuum chamber. The rock shaft may be provided with an indicator 48 to render its operation visible. The pumps may be separate and may be operated by any suitable motor or motors, preferably deriving power from the engine. As shown, the rock shaft 45 is rocked by a segmental gear 49 operated by a rack 50 which is driven by the pistons of a suction motor M operated by suction from the intake manifold communicated through pipe 51 which, as shown, is connected with pipe 21.

The details of motor M are not shown, but they may, for instance, be the same as those of the motor shown and described in U. S. Patent No. 1,424,890. As shown, the cylinder 52 of the pumps and the motor cylinder 53 are cast integral, and shaft 45 has bearings in both cylinders. The pump B. preferably has a cylinder of slightly smaller diameter than the pump C to insure that all of the oil delivered by the pump B to the refining chamber, even though expanded by heat, will be returned to the crank case or reservoir. The pumps may be located within or on any convenient part of the engine or on the body of the refining chamber.

The operation of the apparatus will be obvious from the foregoing description. When the hydrocarbon engine is running, a partial vacuum is created in the intake, and the same condition will prevail in the refining chamber. The suction will also operate the pumps through the motor and pump 13 will send oil from the crank case 15 through pipes 17, 18, into the chamber A. It is desirable that the oil should be heated to promote evaporation of the diluents, and for this reason the pipe 18 may be closely associated with the exhaust pipe as shown at 18 Additional heat is conducted through the head casting 22 from the exhaust. The heated oil passes through pipe 34 and openings 35 into and through the filter sack 33 which is of suitable fabric. The

.filter sack will expose a large oil-soaked surface to the partial vacuum, and any gasoline or water contained in the oil will evaporate therefrom and pass through pipe 21 to the intake. The purified oilwill drip to the bottom of chamber A and discharge through outlet pipe 19 to pump 0 and be positively transferred back to the crank case or reservoir.

It will be evident that the oil pumps may be operated with very little power, which may be furnished by any of the motors commonly used for operating windshield wipers or by a very small electric motor operated from the usual lighting battery. The function of the pump 13 is to regulate the amount of oil going to the refining chamber and prevent overloading the chamber and filter and thus promote efi'icient refining and filtering action. If a suction motor be used to drive the pumps, its speed will depend upon the degree of vacuum in the intake, but the vacuum in the refining chamber will increase as the speed of the motor increases and thus take care of the larger amount of oil delivered by promoting more rapid evaporation of the diluents. The filter should be large enough to pass the maximum amount of oil which the pump will deliver. As the pump C must work against atmospheric pressure in withdrawing oil from the vacuum chamber, it is advantageous to connect the pumps mechanically, as shown, as the pump B will be assisted by the vacuum tending to draw oil into the chamber and thus assist the pump C. The average amount of oil in the usual automobile engine is not over two gallons, and it may be kept pure by passing it through the refiner once or twice in a days run, hence the pumps may be of very small capacity and may be operated with power which is negligible as compared with the power of the engine.

Having thus described the invention, what is claimed as new and desired to be secured by Letters Patent is:

1. In an oil purifying apparatus for hydrocarbon engines, the combination with a hydrocarbon engine having an oiling system including an oil reservoir, of avacuum chamber, a pump and connections for conveying oil from the reservoir to the chamber, means for maintaining subatmospheric pressure in the chamber, a pump and connections for withdrawing oil from the chamber and returning the same to the reservoir, and a suction motor connected with the intake of the engine for operating said pumps.

2. In an oil purifying apparatus for hydrocarbon engines, the combination with a hydrocarbon engine having an oiling system including an oil reservoir,of a vacuum chamber,a pump and and connections for conveying oil from the reservoir to the chamber, means for maintaining subatmospheric pressure in the chamber, a pump and connections for withdrawing oil from the chamber and returning the same to the reservoir, and a. motor for operating said pumps, said motor being operated by suction created by the engine.

3. In an oil purifying apparatus for hydrocarbon engines, a refining chamber, a filter sack therein having a relatively large filtering surface, means for introducing engine lubricating oil into said sack, means for creating subatmospheric pressure in said chamber exterior to said sack whereby oil is drawn through the wall of the sack and exposed to the evaporating action of the partial vacuum while on said wall to remove volatile matter from the oil, and means including a continuously operating pump for returning the filtered oil to the oiling system of the engine.

JAMES A. WATSON. 

